About the Book

Is anxiety and fear a problem for you? Have you tried to win the war with your anxious mind and body, only to end up feeling frustrated, powerless, and stuck? If so, you’re not alone. But there is a way forward, a path into genuine happiness, and a way back into living the kind of life you so desperately want. This workbook will help you get started on this new journey today!

Now in its second edition, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety offers a new approach to your anxiety, fears, and your life. Within its pages, you’ll find a powerful and tested set of tools and strategies to help you gain freedom from fear, trauma, worry, and all the many manifestations of anxiety and fear. The book offers an empowering approach to help you create the kind of life you so desperately want to live.

Based on a revolutionary approach to psychological health and wellness called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this fully revised and updated second edition offers compelling new exercises to help you create the conditions for your own genuine happiness and peace of mind. You’ll learn how your mind can trap you, keeping you stuck and struggling in anxiety and fear. You’ll also discover ways to nurture your capacity for acceptance, mindfulness, kindness, and compassion, and use these qualities to weaken the power of anxiety and fear so that you can gain the space do what truly matters to you. Now is the time.

Nobody chooses anxiety. And there is no healthy way to “turn off” anxious thoughts and feelings like a light switch. But you can learn to break free from the shackles of anxiety and fear and take back your life. The purpose of this workbook is to help you do just that. Your life is calling on you to make that choice, and the skills in this workbook can help you make it happen. You can live better, more fully, and more richly with or without anxiety and fear. This book will show you the way.

Contributors

John P. Forsyth, PhD, is professor of psychology and director of the anxiety disorders research program at the University at Albany, SUNY. Forsyth is a highly sought-after speaker, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) workshop leader, and member... Read more

Georg H. Eifert, PhD, is professor emeritus of psychology and former associate dean of the School of Health and Life Sciences at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Eifert is an internationally recognized author, scientist, speaker, and trainer in the... Read more

Praise

“The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety is so much more than the sum of its title. It’s a way to live, a way of being, and a way of bringing kindness and compassion to our lives and to the lives of those around us. In short, this is one of the most beautiful guidebooks toward life, and living a more heart-centered, kind, and compassion way, that I’ve ever seen. Take your time going through it, and do the homework, and see yourself shine! We all have magic inside, just waiting beneath our worries and concerns. This workbook helps you move those aside—or technically befriend them, which is pretty amazing—to unlock the magic and help you shine bright. Much more than a workbook, this is a kind and compassionate guide to life! I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s a life-changer!” —Michael Sandler, host of the Inspire Nation Show, and author of Barefoot Running

“You have in your hands a wise and healing workbook that is based on a radical premise: fighting or resisting anxiety adds fuel to the fire; learning how to relate to it with mindful presence and compassion leads to true well-being. Filled with accessible, well-researched exercises and practices, this guide can free you to live from your full aliveness, heart, and potential.” —Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

“The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety combines the accumulated wisdom of the ages with up-to-date, cutting-edge developments in scientific psychology. In an easy-to-read and fun format, those suffering from anxiety in all of its guises will find the keys to breaking loose from its shackles. By emphasizing acceptance of toxic emotions (and illustrating ways to accomplish this) rather than struggling to overcome them, the person inside you may finally emerge to set your life on a new, productive, and valued course. Highly recommended for all those struggling with worry, anxiety, and fear.” —David H. Barlow, PhD, founder and director emeritus of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Boston University, and author of Anxiety and Its Disorders

“This book presents a tried-and-true approach to turning your life in a new direction. If you want to stop running, hiding, struggling, or just waiting for your life to start, this book will help show you how to start living, now. Clear guidance, beautifully presented. Highly recommended.” —Steven C. Hayes, codeveloper of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and author of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life

“Ably surfing the dual currents of traditional exposure and acceptance-based treatments for anxiety, the authors of this resourceful workbook illustrate the synergies to be found in their combination. Carefully structured exercises and charts support the core message that taking action to face one’s fears is most effective if acceptance informs our starting point, and values determine our destination. This book is a ‘must-read’ for anyone encountering anxiety as a barrier to leading a fuller life.” —Zindel Segal, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology in mood disorders at the University of Toronto, Canada, and coauthor of The Mindful Way Workbook

“Go into any large bookstore and you will find numerous self-help books, promising much. This one delivers. With a combination of sound theory, new research, deep professional involvement, clear values, and a joyful communicative style, this second edition of Forsyth and Eifert’s highly acclaimed workbook is inspiring. Through principles of mindful self-reflection, acceptance, and compassion, the reader learns that the opposite of anxiety is not simply the absence of anxiety, but the experience of a more fulfilling life and a richer progression toward one’s personal goals. At a time of much uncertainty, distress, and horror in today’s world, this book offers a message to everyone, not simply those for whom fear is a specific barrier to personal happiness.” —Ian M. Evans, professor emeritus of the school of psychology at Massey University, New Zealand, and author of How and Why Thoughts Change

“If anxiety and fear is a major problem in your life, this book is for you. In this well-written and thoroughly researched workbook, John Forsyth and Georg Eifert will take you on a journey to regain your life. Using concrete exercises and examples, you will learn new skills to develop a different kind of relationship with your anxiety and fear. As a result, you will learn how to become more accepting and compassionate with yourself, and to eventually release the demons that have kept you from living a life worth living. Life is beautiful. Start this journey now.” —Stefan G. Hofmann, PhD, professor of psychology at Boston University, and author of Emotion in Therapy

“In this fully updated and expanded edition of their best-selling workbook, Forsyth and Eifert show how giving up your attempts to control anxiety and fear will help you to leave your anxiety problems behind and get on with your life. In the years since the first edition, a number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of the approach described in this practical and clearly written book. I recommend this new edition for anyone who struggles with anxiety.” —Martin M. Antony, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychology at Ryerson University, Canada, and coauthor of The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook

“This is the definitive handbook for how to reduce the suffering that stems from anxiety-related problems. More importantly, the authors offer readers a perfect blend of lucidity, kindness, research-based knowledge, and concrete strategies such that readers walk away with the skills to live a successful life.” —Todd B. Kashdan, PhD, professor of psychology at George Mason University, and coauthor of The Upside of Your Dark Side

“Steeped in the rich tradition of psychological theory, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety by Forsyth and Eifert represents a major advance for the practical treatment of anxiety and related conditions. This book will assist clinicians and patients in constructing a treatment plan that insures progress in overcoming the many obstacles associated with conquering fears. A major contribution to clinical care, this workbook will contribute to the growing knowledge base on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), joining other evidence-based approaches as a major tool for treating the disabling symptoms that accompany anxiety. This reference book belongs in every clinician’s library.” —Terence M. Keane, PhD, director of the behavioral science division of the National Center for PTSD, and professor of psychiatry and assistant dean for research at Boston University School of Medicine

“If you suffer with anxiety, Forsyth and Eifert have given you a gift. It is not a structured manual for how to get over your anxiety as much as it is a book of wisdom. They raise the inevitable truth that anxiety is a part of all of us, and they show us the way—through willingness, compassion, mindfulness, and acceptance of ourselves and others—to live a life worth living, to understand our important values and to live in concert with them. This is a book well worth the reading, and its message is worth keeping close to your heart.” —Richard G. Heimberg, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the Adult Anxiety Clinic of Temple

“The second edition of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety is like great software. It has proven to be simple and intuitive to use but powerful and effective for people all over the world. This workbook also gives clinicians interested in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) a powerful, elegant approach and set of tools to use in their mental health practice.” —David Schaffer, MSW, LICSW, PLLC

“Most ‘how-to’ self-help books try to teach people ways to improve and optimize their problem solving or fight their deficits. This book is different, as it encourages people to let things be and give up efforts to control those problems which they cannot change. An intriguing, inspiring, and deeply humane approach—one which was shown by one of our studies to even be successful for people who did not benefit from a previous psychotherapy. Firmly grounded in basic psychological science, the book tells the reader more about approach than about avoidance goals—easy to read and an ideal recommendation for anyone with anxiety problems.” —Jürgen Hoyer, PhD, professor for behavioral psychotherapy and director of outpatient clinical services at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

I have just started using this book and already finding it very useful, I will do another review in a few weeks - I don't normally leave comments/reviews but i think this book is going to be a big help to me

I have anxiety after treatment and surgery for serious medical problem, my psychiatrist suggested it. I hope it can help me to settle down and relax So I can get off the anti anxiety pills. Never took drugs before this. Never had anxiety before, hoping it will help.

I bought the actual book so I could take notes, and have read this over two years. Even as I improve the messages seem lifelong, so now I will get a digital copy to have for reference to healthy practices. I think their "Bodily Discomfort' exercise, Chapter 16, is brilliant. I am a 60-year-old who is recovering, finally, with this sort of approach. Thank you, JPF and GHE.

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New Harbinger has published proven-effective self-help books and workbooks, as well as professional books on topics in psychology, health, and personal growth. Our books provide evidence-based therapies such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and more.